Dylan Alcott's quest to make tennis history will have to go through a first-time Grand Slam finalist.
The world No. 1 and top seed in the quad singles in the 2021 US Open Wheelchair Competition presented by Deloitte cruised through to Sunday's championship match with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Japan's Koji Sugeno in Saturday's semifinals to set up a meeting with 18-year-old Niels Vink, making his US Open debut.
Vink, who defeated defending champion Sam Schroder in the quarterfinals, booked his spot in the final with a 7-6, 6-1 over two-time US Open champion Andy Lapthorne of Great Britain. The pair have played five times with Alcott holding a 5-0 head-to-head lead, including a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win on the way to the gold medal in Tokyo last week.
"We played like a three-hour classic in Tokyo in the semifinals. He's an awesome dude, a really good kid and a really good tennis player. It's going to be a big battle and I'm really looking forward to it," Alcott said after the match.
"All I can ask of myself is to be the best version of me tomorrow, enjoy myself. If I win, I'll be happy, that's my goal. If I don't win, I'll be okay. I'm just trying to keep it in perspective.
"I have a big opportunity and I'm really excited about it, but I used to put pressure on myself to win every match, and you can't do that. What if Niels plays the best match of his life? I can't control that. All I can control is what I'm going to do, and I'm going to have a red-hot crack at it, as we say in Australia."
Three doubles titles were handed out in the wheelchair event on Saturday, with Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid, Diede de Groot and Aniek van Koot and Vink and Schroder taking home US Open hardware.
History was already made to begin the day, Hewett and Reid completed the Grand Slam, winning their eight straight major title and fourth this year with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Shingo Kunieda and Gustavo Fernandez. They are the first wheelchair doubles team to achieve the feat of winning all four majors in the same season.
"I don't think it was a classic by any means. I don't think any of us played our best tennis today," Reid said. "The conditions were quite tough. A bit of wind swirling around making it difficult to find any rhythm. I think we played a couple of important moments really smart, really well. Made smart decisions. I think ultimately we just gelled a little bit more as a team today and that was the difference.
"When it counted in the bigger games, in the bigger moments, I think we played with the conditions and the opponents really well," Hewett added. "Not the first time we've played those guys. We're pretty experienced. I thought we stuck to our tactics and played very smart."
The women's doubles title was won by de Groot and van Koot for the second time thanks to a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Yui Kamiji and Jordanne Whiley, while Schroder and Vink captured the quad doubles crown with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Alcott and Heath Davidson.
De Groot will also go for the Golden Slam on Sunday when she takes on Kamiji in the women's singles final, while Hewett and Kunieda will play for the men's singles title.
